A Recap of Summer Recipes

From Rachel Nania. Check out her blog, Sear, Simmer & Stir. Follow Nania on Twitter @rnania, email her at rachel[AT]borderstan.com

The kids are back in school, Halloween paraphernalia is making its way to the store shelves and cold-weather fashions are hitting the runways. All signs are pointing to fall… except the local thermometer.

Yes, it is hard to envision candied apples, carved pumpkins and crisp air when peaches, basil and 90-plus degrees of soul-sucking humidity linger over the city.

But just as some area pools plan to remain open to relieve us from the late summer heat, we want to hold onto summer and provide you with a recap of some of our favorite summer recipes to help you utilize September’s fresh produce throughout these transitional weeks.

Place one cleaned ear of corn in the middle of a piece of aluminum foil large enough to completely wrap around it.

Splarge (a very technical term) 1-2 tablespoons of mayo (yes, I said mayo) onto the corn and evenly spread it over the whole ear of corn.

Sprinkle Cholula dry seasoning evenly all over the ear of corn. Sprinkle finely grated parmesan all over the ear of corn, completely coating it in cheese. Feelin’ like something spicy? Add a few dashes of Tabasco sauce!

You’ll probably want to wash your hands at this point…then wrap it all up in the foil and place on a hot grill (300-350 degrees) for 15 minutes or so.

Make sure your fruit is refrigerated prior to making this! Wash, pit, and de-stem your fruits. You probably want to use about 2 pints of fruit per quart of sorbet.

To your cut fruit, add sugar (1/4 to 1/2 cup), depending on how sweet you’d like it), a little water (1/4 to to 1/3 cup) and let it macerate (rest!) in a bowl for about 10 minutes. If you’d like a little kick, you can also add one minibottle of your favorite liquor or ¼ cup wine at this point.

Put everything in your blender and puree! If you’re seed-averse, you can run the blended fruit through a sieve. Otherwise, churn according to your ice cream maker’s instructions if you are using one. If you’re not, go to step 4.

In a food processor, shred fresh zucchini until you have enough for 2 cups (about two large zucchini).

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt. Mix together with a spoon and set aside.

In a separate large bowl, mix together the following ingredients with a large spoon: the melted butter, the sugar, the brown sugar, the eggs and the vanilla.

Combine the bowl of wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon. Spoon in the shredded zucchini and continue to mix the ingredients. Once the wet and dry ingredients are fully incorporated, add the bag of chocolate chips and continue to incorporate.

Divide the batter and pour into two round cake pans.

Sprinkle the tops of the cakes with a pinch of sea salt.

Bake the pans in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

In a food processor, blend the basil, the garlic and the cheese for a few seconds (10 to 15).

Scrape down the sides and start the machine back up. While the mixture is blending, slowly drizzle in about ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil until it all starts to come together. Stop the blade again and scrape down the sides – add salt and pepper to taste. (Be careful with the salt! Parmigiano-Reggiano is a salty cheese and already provides a lot of salt to the pesto.)

Continue to mix until the pesto has reached its desired taste and consistency.

Roasted Vegetable Sandwiches Ingredients

1 small eggplant

2 small zucchinis

½ of a white onion

1 jar of roasted red peppers

Olive oil and salt

Sandwich Directions

On a baking sheet, layout thinly sliced pieces of eggplant, zucchini and onion.